Medical ethics: controversy and consensus in a changing world

The course will introduce you to a range of recent controversial cases in medical ethics. It will cover the common approaches to ethical theory, and show how these can be applied to real dilemmas. Some of the problems inherent in moral theorising will be explored, including the limits of moral relativism and the difficulties in establishing a universally applicable set of ethical principles.

Course programme

Friday 13 November 2015

Please plan to arrive between 16:30 and 18:30. You can meet other course members in the bar which opens at 18:15. Tea and coffee making facilities are available in the study bedrooms.

19:00 Dinner
20:30 Context and culture
22:00 Terrace bar open for informal discussion

Saturday 14 November 2015

07:30 Breakfast
09:00 Medical ethics from an Aristotelian perspective
10:30 Coffee
11:00 The greatest good for the greatest number?
12:30 Free
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Free
16:00 Tea
16:30 A question of duty
19:00 Free
18:30 Dinner
20:00 White legs for black patients?
21:30 Terrace bar open for informal discussion

Sunday 15 November 2015

07:30 Breakfast
09:00 Are there universal moral principles?
10:30 Coffee
11:00 Case presentations
12:30 Free
12:45 Lunch

The course will disperse after lunch